Yesterdays Gone: SEASON TWO (THE POST-APOCALYPTIC SERIAL THRILLER) (Yesterday's Gone)

could feel eyes on him: workers at the church, a couple of men in front of the barn, Brother Rei and John, who were standing in front of the hangar, and surely the men in the guard towers over each of the houses. He heard snippets of thoughts, people wondering what he was doing. One man wondered if he should shoot Luca.
    Luca didn’t stop running until he reached the box. He pounded on the box, his hands hurting in the cold air as his fists met the wood. He cried out, “Rebecca!”  
    Nothing but silence.  
    His heart froze.
    No, she can’t be.
    All those journeys taken together, all their conversations, stories, secrets, and laughs shared in the past two nights, were they all in his head?  
    He continued to bang on the box. “Rebecca!!”  
    Behind him, one of the men shouted, “Hey, get away from there!”
    Luca could hear footsteps approaching, though he could see nothing but the wooden box in front of him with its heavy wooden bar locking the poor girl inside. He put his hands beneath the bar, andpushed up. It was lodged tight, so he pushed harder, putting his feet into it, but his feet were slipping in the snow.
    Please, please, please be alive!
    “Hey!” the same man shouted.
    “Get away from there!” another shout. It was Brother Rei, racing toward him, John close behind.  
    Luca looked at them, then back at the bar, giving it another desperate push. He had to get the box open before they got to him. He pushed with everything he had. The bar lifted and swung aside.
    Footsteps closed in, and he could hear breathing, and their thoughts:
    I’m gonna kick his ass.  
    You little fucker.
    The boy is possessed!  
    He’s dead!
    Luca pulled the door open and his heart stopped. He saw Rebecca inside, eyes closed, skin blue, unconscious, maybe dead. He reached in pulled her out of the box — she was so cold — and gently laid her on the ground so he could try to heal her.   A hand caught his hair and pulled tight, yanking him back. Brother Rei.
    “Let go!” Luca screeched, trying to break free, and get to Rebecca. “I have to save her!”
    “You’re coming with me!” Brother Rei said, ignoring Rebecca who had yet to move and was dead or dying. There were more than 50 adults at The Sanctuary, at least 10 in the courtyard, not including guards, and yet nobody was helping Rebecca.
    “Someone, please help her!” Luca cried out, still trying to pull free from Brother Rei’s tight grip on him.
    A couple of the men looked down at Rebecca, but remained passive.
    “She’s dying!” Luca screamed as Brother Rei’s hands went around Luca’s waist, and pulled him farther away.
    “Let go of him!” a voice shouted.
    It was Desmond, who’d come running from the barn.
    Brother Rei held his grip tight, “He’s going in the hole!”
    Desmond dropped to his knees beside Rebecca, then felt for a pulse. A moment later, he began to perform CPR on Rebecca. The crowd of people around them had grown to nearly 20, but only Desmond was helping Rebecca.
    “Get him off of her!” Brother Rei commanded to one of the men.
    Brother Andre, a big red bearded man, almost as large as Linc, grabbed Desmond by the right arm.
    Desmond spun around, gripped the man’s hand, and twisted it behind him hard, then thrust Andre to the ground. Two more men ran toward Desmond.
    “She’s dying!” Luca screamed.
    “Let God decide her fate!” Brother Rei shouted, holding his hand out to command the others to stay put.  
    Luca used the slippery snow to his advantage; he spun, dipped down and slipped out of Brother Rei’s grip, then came up and elbowed him beneath the left eye.  
    Freed, Luca dropped to the ground and scrambled to Rebecca’s side. One of the guards, Brother Terry, thrust a rifle at Luca, “Get away from her, or I will shoot.”
    A loud shot rang out and Brother Terry dropped the gun, clutching his bloody, mangled right hand, crying in disbelief, “You shot my hand!”
    Luca looked up to see Desmond holding a pistol, and waving away the others. “Back the FUCK off!” he shouted.
    “Everyone just hold on,” Linc said, stepping forward with his hands up. “Let the kid help her. I’ve seen him do it before.”
    Luca put his hands on Rebecca’s face — so cold — then closed his eyes in search for her soul.

    He found her on the mountain, in their spot where the swing and rose bush had been during their first trip. Only now, there was no swing, rose bush, or lightning bugs to light the darkness